UFC on FOX 4 main card set, tickets on sale this week

The show, officially called “UFC on FOX: Shogun vs. Vera,” takes place Aug. 4 at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. The main event is a light heavyweight bout between former champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Brandon Vera.

In the co-main event, former light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida takes on Ryan Bader. Also on the FOX-televised main card, heavyweights Travis Browne and Ben Rothwell meet, and Joe Lauzon and Terry Etim meet in a lightweight bout.

Tickets for the card start at $30 and go up to $200. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday starting at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) at the Staples Center box office or Ticketmaster.com. Pre-sale opportunities are available for UFC Fight Club members on Wednesday (1 p.m. ET) and UFC.com e-newsletter subscribers on Thursday (1 p.m. ET).

The card will be the UFC’s third at Staples Center. The promotion last visited the venue, home of the 2012 Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, as well as the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers, for UFC 104 in October 2009. At that event, Machida defended his title in a controversial unanimous decision against Rua. And at UFC 60 in May 2006, Matt Hughes stopped Royce Gracie with a first-round TKO.

Rua (20-6 MMA, 4-4 UFC) will fight for the first time since his “Fight of the Year” loss to Dan Henderson this past November at UFC 139. In that bloody brawl, Rua survived nearly being finished for three rounds only to turn things around and nearly finish Henderson in the last two rounds. After winning the 205-pound title in his rematch with Machida at UFC 113, he lost it in his first defense – a third-round TKO loss to current champ Jon Jones at UFC 128.

Vera (12-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) returned from a suspension this past fall to beat Eliot Marshall by unanimous decision at UFC 137. He was originally excepted to face James Te-Huna at UFC on FUEL TV 4. But an injury to Brian Stann took him out of his UFC on FOX 4 headliner against Hector Lombard. Cards and opponents then were shuffled by the UFC, making the Rua-Vera fight the main event in Los Angeles.

Machida (17-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) looks to get back on track after a title loss to Jones at UFC 140 this past December. That loss gave the former champ three setbacks in his last four outings, including the aforementioned title loss to Rua at UFC 113 and a split decision loss to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 123. Machida knocked out Randy Couture with a head kick at UFC 129. Bader (14-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) will hope to continue the momentum of a two-fight win streak. At UFC 139, he scored a quick knockout of Jason Brilz, and at UFC 144 he beat Jackson by unanimous decision.